Institutions as Fields of Action

2018 ◽  
pp. 25-42
Author(s):  
Albert W. Dzur
Keyword(s):  
Public Goods ◽  
Political Culture ◽  
Social Problems ◽  
Participatory Democracy ◽  
Public Awareness ◽  
Active Role ◽  
Public Institutions ◽  
The Public ◽  
Critical Junctures ◽  
The Social

Institutions shape how citizens think about the social problems they handle, repelling public awareness and involvement by performing tasks in ways that neutralize the citizen’s role. Democratic professionals seek to change this dynamic by building access points and infusing citizen agency at critical junctures throughout major public institutions. The kind of citizen–professional collaborations democratic professionals aim to foster directly address the kinds of counter-democratic tendencies that reinforce callousness and make social problems difficult to handle. The motivations of democratic professionals can be understood through the theory of participatory democracy, which draws attention to the hazards representative governments create by thinking and acting for citizens. Participatory democrats acknowledge the difficulties of fostering civic agency in modernity and attempt to theorize how citizens can occupy a more active role in contemporary political culture and take up a civic responsibility for the public goods and social harms produced by their institutions.

The 2016 Police and Crime Commissioner elections

2017 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 41-54 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Joyce
Keyword(s):  
Public Awareness ◽  
Primary Source ◽  
Source Material ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Social ◽  
Key Issues ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Government

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyse the 2016 elections for Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) and to compare them with those that took place in 2012. It seeks to evaluate the background of the candidates who stood for office in 2016, the policies that they put forward, the results of the contests and the implications of the 2016 experience for future PCC elections. Design/methodology/approach This paper is based around several key themes – the profile of candidates who stood for election, preparations conducted prior to the contests taking place, the election campaign and issues raised during the contests, the results and the profile of elected candidates. The paper is based upon documentary research, making particular use of primary source material. Findings The research establishes that affiliation to a political party became the main route for successful candidates in 2016 and that local issues related to low-level criminality will dominate the future policing agenda. It establishes that although turnout was higher than in 2012, it remains low and that further consideration needs to be devoted to initiatives to address this for future PCC election contests. Research limitations/implications The research focusses on the 2016 elections and identifies a number of key issues that emerged during the campaign affecting the conduct of the contests which have a bearing on future PCC elections. It treats these elections as a bespoke topic and does not seek to place them within the broader context of the development of the office of PCC. Practical implications The research suggests that in order to boost voter participation in future PCC election contests, PCCs need to consider further means to advertise the importance of the role they perform and that the government should play a larger financial role in funding publicity for these elections and consider changing the method of election. Social implications The rationale for introducing PCCs was to empower the public in each police force area. However, issues that include the enhanced importance of political affiliation as a criteria for election in 2016 and the social unrepresentative nature of those who stood for election and those who secured election to this office in these contests coupled with shortcomings related to public awareness of both the role of PCCs and the timing of election contests threaten to undermine this objective. Originality/value The extensive use of primary source material ensures that the subject matter is original and its interpretation is informed by an academic perspective.

scholarly journals Education in the Mais Médicos program: the gap between proposals and implementation

2021 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Erika Maria Sampaio Rocha ◽  
Thiago Dias Sarti ◽  
George Dantas de Azevedo ◽  
Jonathan Filippon ◽  
Carlos Eduardo Gomes Siqueira ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Rural Areas ◽  
Public Institutions ◽  
Private Institutions ◽  
The Public ◽  
Regulatory Changes ◽  
The Social ◽  
Vacancy Distribution ◽  
The Right ◽  
Institutional Actors ◽  
Distribution Of Physicians

Abstract: Introduction: The scarcity and inequalities in the geographical distribution of physicians challenge the consolidation of the right to health and create migratory flows that increase health inequities. Due to their complex and multidimensional characteristics, they demand multisectoral political approaches, considering several factors related to the availability and area of practice of medical doctors, as well as the social vulnerability of local populations. Objective: This study aimed at analysing results of the “Mais Médicos” (More Doctors) Program Educational Axis in Brazil. Methodology: A documental research was conducted, highlighting the location and the public or private nature of new undergraduate medical school vacancies between the years 2013 until 2017, which were then compared to the goals and strategies outlined in the official Program documents. Results: The Educational Axis reached important milestones despite the resistance of some institutional actors. The Program extended its undergraduate vacancies by 7696 places, 22.48% of that in public institutions and 77.52% in private ones. Vacancy distribution prioritized cities in rural areas of Brazil, at the same instance bringing forward significant regulatory changes for undergraduate medical courses. However, political disputes with representatives of medical societies and stakeholders interested in favouring the private educational and healthcare sectors surface in the official discourses and documents. These factors weakened the program normative body, creating a hiatus between its core objectives and respective implementation. Evidence related to the concentration of vacancies in the Southeast regions allow the maintenance of a known unequal workforce distribution, despite a proportionally bigger increase in the Midwest, North and Northeast regions. Conclusion: The predominance of vacancies in private institutions and the weakening of the new undergraduate courses monitoring instruments can compromise changes in the graduate students’ profiles, which are necessary for the fixation of physicians in strategic geographic areas to promote Primary Healthcare.

Friedman at 50: Is It Still the Social Responsibility of Business to Increase Profits?

2020 ◽  
Vol 62 (3) ◽  
pp. 28-41
Author(s):  
Karthik Ramanna
Keyword(s):  
Social Responsibility ◽  
Public Sphere ◽  
Public Institutions ◽  
The Public ◽  
Track Record ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
Civic Institutions ◽  
Public Politics ◽  
Rules Of The Game

Fifty years ago Milton Friedman famously argued that the social responsibility of business is to increase its profits, which today are at record highs. And, as public institutions falter, business is now offering to step into the void. We must resist this (further) intrusion of business into the public sphere, as it will further depreciate civic institutions. The business of business is business, and so it should be. Business’ track record in public politics has been to engineer the rules of the game to its own advantage.

scholarly journals More paternalism in the regulation of consumer financial investments? Private sector duties and public goods analysis

Legal Studies ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 1-19
Author(s):  
Iris H-Y Chiu
Keyword(s):  
Public Goods ◽  
Consumer Credit ◽  
Financial Health ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
Point Of Sale ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Social ◽  
Financial Investments ◽  
Retail Investors ◽  
The Uk

Abstract Paternalistic forms of regulation for the retail investment market have been gradual and restrained, even though significant gaps exist between investors’ needs and market-based provision. As ordinary citizens reckon with a variety of savings needs and become financial citizens responsible for their own financial welfare provision, financial health is not merely an issue of individual fortunes but a social need. Adverse financial welfare consequences can at scale become a social issue, as is reflected in the social demands and critique entailing from the collapse of London and Capital Finance in the UK. The need for more regulatory paternalism goes beyond preventing mis-selling, and the outworking of welfare beyond point-of-sale remains relatively unconsidered. Post-sale welfare is, however, increasingly recognised for consumer credit and is slower to catch on in relation to savings needs and investments. This paper advocates that the regulator should not remain ambivalent about the need for more paternalistic interventions. Paternalistic protection is not only about shifting more burdens to the industry but also about the provision of public goods where there are standardised baseline needs for retail investors. This paper unpacks the roles of both the public and private sectors in addressing retail investors’ financial welfare needs.

American Public Education and the Responsibility of its Citizens

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah M. Stitzlein
Keyword(s):  
Public Schools ◽  
Public Education ◽  
Poor Performance ◽  
Active Role ◽  
Public Institutions ◽  
Way Of Life ◽  
The Public ◽  
Educational Crisis ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Citizen Support

Not only is the future of our public schools in jeopardy, so is our democracy. Public schools are central to a flourishing democracy, where children learn how to deliberate and solve problems together, build shared identities, and come to value justice and liberty. As citizen support for public schools wanes, our democratic way of life is at risk. While we often hear about the poor performance of students and teachers, the current educational crisis is at heart not about accountability, but rather about citizen responsibility. Yet citizens increasingly do not feel that public schools are our schools, that we have influence over them or responsibility for their outcomes. Citizens have become watchdogs of public institutions largely from the perspective of consumers, without seeing ourselves as citizens who compose the public of public institutions. Accountability becomes more about finding fault with and placing blame on our schools and teachers, rather than about taking responsibility as citizens for shaping our expectations of schools, determining the criteria we use to measure their success, or supporting schools in achieving those goals. This book sheds light on recent shifts in education and citizenship, helping the public to understand not only how schools now work, but also how citizens can take an active role in shaping them. It provides citizens with tools, habits, practices, and knowledge necessary to support schools. It offers a vision of how we can cultivate citizens who will continue to support public schools and thereby keep democracy strong.

The Muhammadiyah’s Promotion of Moderation

2015 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 69-91
Author(s):  
Zakiyuddin Baidhawy
Keyword(s):  
The State ◽  
Public Institutions ◽  
Checks And Balances ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Social ◽  
Cultural Domain ◽  
Collective Deliberation ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
Islamic Society

This article examines the role of the Muhammadiyah as the largest civil Islam movement in Indonesia in promoting moderation in the Muslim community. This study focuses on the Muhammadiyah’s efforts to establish its social ideals within the framework of civil society and the ummah. The findings of this study state that the social ideals of the Muhammadiyah to establish “Masyarakat Islam yang Sebenar-benarnya” (the Truly Islamic Society [MIYS]) have been implemented by playing its role in three domains. First, in the political domain the movement has utilized the public sphere and public opinion to democratize the state through collective deliberation and checks and balances on the state and public institutions, enforcing moderation and civility in diversity, and influencing the direction of state policy. Second, in the economic domain, the Muhammadiyah has attempted to build self-reliance, justice, and economic welfare through the development of religious-social philanthropy; to represent itself as the articulator and advocator of the interests of the marginalized people; and to build a healthy business for the social welfare. Third, in the cultural domain, it portrays itself as an intellectual and moral strength to enlighten the nation’s reason and conscience, to build consensus with the pillars of the state, as well as to enforce contestation and alternatives to the state.

Public perspectives of social prescribing

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Koser Khan ◽  
Fiona Ward ◽  
Emma Halliday ◽  
Vivien Holt
Keyword(s):  
Service User ◽  
Public Awareness ◽  
Service Planning ◽  
North West ◽  
The Public ◽  
Social Prescribing ◽  
The Social ◽  
Public Perspectives ◽  
The Uk ◽  
User Perspectives

ABSTRACT Background There is a strong national drive within the UK government and National Health Service for social prescribing. Previous research studies have mainly focused on service user perspectives and evaluating their experiences. There is limited evidence on how the general public perceive and understand what social prescribing is and how these views could influence service planning and delivery. This paper seeks to understand perceptions of social prescribing within the wider community. Methods Semi-structured focus groups were conducted with 37 members of the public in four areas in north-west England. We explored public awareness and understanding of social prescribing. Results Limited knowledge of the term social prescribing was found amongst participants as well as limited involvement in community discussions of the topic. Concerns were raised about the short-term nature of activities and the need for adequate resourcing to support continuity of service provision. The social prescribing link worker was considered to be important in supporting engagement with services and it was preferred this role was undertaken by people with local knowledge. Conclusions The findings provide evidence of public perspectives on social prescribing and highlight how wider community perceptions can supplement service user feedback to support social prescribing service planning, commissioning and delivery.

scholarly journals Reworking the Social Order: Skam as an Instance of Public Moral Education

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ole Andreas Kvamme
Keyword(s):  
Moral Education ◽  
Social Order ◽  
Good Life ◽  
Active Role ◽  
The Good Life ◽  
Publicly Funded ◽  
The Public ◽  
Open Questions ◽  
Pluralistic Societies ◽  
The Social

AbstractThe Norwegian high-school drama series Skam is produced and published by the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation, a publicly funded institution distinguished by an explicit obligation to the public interest, not only serving their audience as consumers but even as citizens. Generally, the normativity expressed in Skam may be summarized by treating all with respect, involving not only moral considerations of what is right, but also ethical conceptions of what is good, offered, opened up and obstructed by the living social order established there. In season three, given attention here, the plot revolves around issues concerning same-sex relationships, mental disorder and religion. Here Skam becomes interesting for the field of moral education, elaborating on how to encounter the challenges of pluralistic societies that undergo continuous changes and in which common values have become open questions. In this paper attention is drawn toward Skam’s ethical dimension, considering Skam as an instance of public moral education. Faced with tensions, hindrances and conflicts, the norm of treating all with respect, irrespective of how trivial it may appear outside of context, becomes loaded with meaning, while the actualization of the good life is at risk. Appalling is the way hegemonic religion is transformed in the living social order. Decisive is the active role taken by the youths in the series, recontextualizing the norm. The social order here is not a static, given condition, but a continuous, moving, cultivating project. In that respect, a certain democratic aspect of the public moral education of Skam also becomes visible. Together, the youths portrayed in the series seem to accommodate a variety of expressions of life emerging within their community.

scholarly journals ALBANIA AND CULTURAL SOCIAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Albana DEMI (MOSHO) ◽  
◽  
Arjana KADIU ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Social Economic ◽  
Public Policies ◽  
Public Institutions ◽  
Social Stability ◽  
Social Policies ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Economic Development ◽  
Different Cultures

Everyone This paper aims to present the social and cultural side in Albania, intertwined with the economic aspect, based on the analysis of the changes occurred recently in our country. Considering the happiness as a key daily factor this paper will give an overview of the public policies, including public and family costs. The purpose of this paper is to analyze if the welfare is provided only in conditions of an environment characterized by the economic, political and social stability. The research is based on the data collected by the public institutions regarding the social policies, economic growth, challenges of tourism, as well as the different cultures that exist in Albania. Keywords: public policies, economic, social policies, tourism, culture, economic growth.

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